Navy's First Supercarrier Sold for a Penny

MarineLink.comOctober 24, 2013

USS Forrestal in 1982: Photo Wiki CCL

The U.S. Navy sold the 1,067-foot behemoth 'USS Forrestal' to a Texas company, All Star Metals, to be dismantled, scrapped and recycled, an inauspicious fate for a ship with a colorful and tragic history, reports Fox News, citing a Navy announcement.

USS Forrestal is perhaps best known for a 1967 incident in which stray voltage triggered an accidental explosion that struck a plane on the flight deck whose cockpit was occupied by a young John McCain. A chain reaction of blasts and fires ultimately killed 134 men and injured more than 300.

But its rich past and nearly four decades of service are not enough to spare the it. The Navy tried to donate the historic ship for use as a memorial or a museum, but no “viable applications” were received.

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